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Outside elevated pond

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Hello AC
I have a outside tub that I have not done a water change on in 13 months and was wondering if changing more than %25 of the water could be dangerous. The tubs entire top half is heavily planted with a break in the middle so i can see to the bottom and also the fish (8 empire gudgeons and 2 plattys). The plants root system is amazing and catches most of the dead plant matter before it reaches the bottom half. but after a year I can no longer see my stones on the bottom and want to remove the layer of dirt over them.

Could changing the water affect the balance and kill my fish? 2 years ago when i first started the tub i did a water change around every 2-4 weeks and it had a filter but it took about a year before my plants became well established and i removed the larger fish, filter and stopped the water changes.

I had a med size pond for a while and loved. Mine to was heavily planted and well established, no filtration of any kind, only a small circulation pump. I never did water changes, however about twice a year I would remove some of the yuck from the bottom slow over a period of 2 to 3 days. I found that a plastic pitchfork worked great as mine was lined. I agree any changes or adjustments to your setup need to be gradual.
Some pic would be greatly appreciated.

I will clean as much of the bottom as i can within %10-20 and space the cleans out a week between. Sorry i don't know what my plants are I am slowly getting rid of the floating plant though as the other plant is well established now and I think the floating plant killed my lily and is keeping my other plant down. The one plant I will be keeping grows leaves about 5-10cm under the surface to about 5-10cm above and has white/purple flowers. Sorry I don't have any pictures I will try to upload some in a week. I think The size is about 175L.